The Horror Squad 2 (3 page)

“We got all that was asked for by the
guys,
and all that I wanted and some extra, not sure
we would be able to carry anymore and still
have room for ourselves anyway, if we need
more, we will have to come back.” Karen
stated.

A scream came from the back of the store as
the five looked to see who was missing.

“Rachel!” Lisa whispered.
“Fucking figures, I knew her stupid ass
would be trouble.” Tina fell in line with the

group.

Sandra picked up a screw driver that was in
the pile they had collected and made her way to
catch up to the back of the others. Lisa held up
her knife leading the pack ready to take on any
rotter that came within arm’s reach. Karen
readied herself behind Lisa with her knife. Tina
and Kris with theirs took up the middle. They
slowly were making their way down the small
aisle searching for Rachel, turning toward each
aisle that came to the left and right of them.

At the dead end of the store wall, Lisa turned
and headed toward the back and stopped as the
aisle came open to a hallway. She turned to her
backups, asking them with a look if they were
ready to go down into the darkness of the small
opening. All nodded letting her know they were
ready to take on whatever the dark held.

Lisa sidestepped and led them into an area no
wider than that big enough for one of them to
fit in at a time. Single file, they piled through it
and kept on each other’s heels. They came to an
open door and stopped; each of them backed up
against the wall on the same side as the door.
Lisa peeked around the doorway and into the
office. She threw a thumb’s up and led them to
the other side of the doorway. Another door
was open across the hall a few feet away. Lisa
moved to the wall next to that door, Tina and
Karen followed Lisa, while Kris and Sandra
stayed against the other wall in case something
came barreling out. Lisa removed her hat and
shot her head around the corner. Kris tried to
move in closer to see into the room but had no
luck with a small shelf that stood in her path.
Lisa stuck up her open hand, telling them to all
wait. She crept a bit further and rounded the
doorway into the room and waved them all to
come with her. Staying in formation, they all
fell in behind her looking in all directions as
Lisa headed for the desk that sat in the middle
of the room. She was able to see movement
behind the desk and rounded the mound of
dusty oak to find Rachel mangled on the floor.
Her foot twitched and her eyes fluttered open
and closed quickly. Her hands both opened and
closed as her torso seemed to tense up.

“What the fuck!” Sandra stated in a lou
der
than meant to voice and quickly covered her
mouth.

Karen, Tina and Kris rounded the other side
of the desk after making sure they were clear of
any rotters and peered down on Rachel.

“There are rotters in here somewhere, she
has been bitten and is turning.” Karen stated.
“We are going to have to take her out.” Kris
expressed.
“I got this shit!” Tina stated.
“Of course you do.” Kris laughed. “She was
kind of a smart ass. I’ll give you that”

Sandra turned away to watch the door and
Lisa and Kris held her still since she looked like
she was having a seizure. Tina slid her knife
into the side of her temple and slowly back out
trying to be quiet and not draw attention to their
whereabouts in the building.

“We have to get the shit
loaded and get the
hell out of here, there are rotters in here
somewhere and we are going to end up finding
them like she did. Let’s go now!” Kris
demanded.

All of them stood, this time Karen led the
way. She peered out into the dark hall and
rounded the door. She waved the group on and
tip toed down the green tiled floor so that her
heels didn’t make any noise.

“Impressive.” Lisa laughed from behind
Sandra in line, making fun of Karen.
The rest of the group laughed and watched
their surroundings.

Lisa turned to scan behind them to make
sure they would not be attacked from the rear.
There stood a man towering over Lisa. Sandra
turned about the time that Lisa gasped and
reflexively screamed. Kris turned as Sandra
ducked down, Kris buried her knife into the
side of the man’s head as he bent over to bite
into Lisa and pulled her back to her, all in one
motion. They all three fell to the ground while
Tina and Karen reached to try and catch them
but weren’t quick enough. Tina grabbed Kris
and Sandra to stand while Lisa stood on her
own embarrassed that she had been knocked
down.

“Asshole!” She said dusting herself off.
“Let’s go!” Karen stated.

The five did not take any time to get to the
front door and check the parking lot. With no
rotters in sight, Lisa made a bee line for the
truck and backed it up as close as she could to
the door. Kris and Sandra began throwing
things in the back while Tina and Karen stood
guard inside and Lisa watched the outside.

“Here it comes!” Tina shouted.

Karen thrust her knife forward and stabbed a
woman in the face, she pulled it out and stabbed
her again in the top of the head before she was
dropped to the floor. Tina could hear banging in
the aisles of the store and watched for another
one to round the corner.

“Guys, we may have to hurry a little fucking
faster with that shit!” Tina whispered to Kris
and Sandra.

They hurriedly began to pass things to each
other quicker than they had before. Tina took a
step forward and viewed the skinless bastard
coming toward them she stepped out of his
sight. Once the smell hit the rotter’s nose, he
began to try and charge them but his limp
prevented him from going any faster. Tina
watched for his foot to round the corner and
swung for him as soon as she saw it. She hit the
display shelf that they had emptied earlier and
had to pull her knife back to charge it towards
him again. He was able to reach for Tina before
she was able to come back down with her knife.
She held him back with all of her might, while
Karen tried to make her way to the other side of
him. She was able to get to his head when his
mouth opened and showed Tina his brown
rotted teeth. Tina’s eyes widened, knowing that
she was getting ready to end up like Rachel.
Karen, Kris, and Sandra came down on the
man’s head all at once with their weapons. The
man fell on top of Tina and brain matter
splattered onto the three that had saved her.
Kris pulled Tina out from under the rotter and
to her feet. She pushed her towards the back of
the truck making her sit on the bumper. Tina
wiped the red smudges of blood from her lips
from the rotter and the yellow brain splatter
from her hair.

“Thank you.” Tina managed to get out to the
others.

Karen picked up the remaining pieces of
wood and the few tools that remained on the
floor and threw them into the back.

“Get the fuck in and hurry!” Karen
whispered.
They all four climbed in and Kris banged on
the side of the truck.
“Let’s go dammit!” Kris yelled to Lisa.

She stomped on the gas and the four fell
from standing to lying on the bottom of the
truck.

Karen raised her head to four rotters making
their way out of the store. “Look.” She told the
others.

All peered at the small mass of them headed
to follow the truck.
“Shit, I’m glad we got the hell out of there.”
Sandra stated.

The four were able to catch their breath when
they felt the truck stop. The door slammed and
Lisa appeared to them in the back.

“Everyone okay?” She asked her group.
“We are good. Let’s just get back.” Kris
stated.

Lisa jumped down and back to the driver’s
seat. Karen heard the door slam and the truck
began to move, but slowly.
“What the hell?” Tina questioned the others.

Kris climbed the side of the inside of the
truck and sliced through the canvas cloth that
covered them. She was barely able to see over
the top of the truck when she stuck her head
through the hole.

“There are rotters. She must have hit one and
it went under the tires.” Kris told the group
down below.

Lisa revved the engine and the truck climbed
the rotter and fell hard back to the pavement
and sped on. The other three looked out of the
back and saw two women laid out in the road.
Their jaws still opening and closing knowing
that their next meal was in that truck, but their
bodies were embedded in the asphalt below
them. The truck swerved and made Karen fall
forward and almost out of the truck. Tina
reached for her and was only able to catch her
by the back of her pants. She pulled Karen’s
tiny body back into the truck, but not before her
head hit the small tailgate that covered the back
of the truck and knocked her out. Sandra
grabbed her arm and pulled her to lay her on
her back.
“Karen!” Tina shouted.

Kris pulled her head back through and
shimmied back down the side of the truck. She
jumped next to Karen and checked her pulse.

“She is fine, just knocked out.”
She put her
ear to her chest and listened. “She is breathing,
just give her a minute to come to.”

Tina brushed Karen’s hair away
from her
face and saw the blood trickling down the side
of her head.

“Oh shit, I killed her!” Tina hollered.

“Tina, she is okay. Just give her a few
minutes. It is only a bump.” Kris told her.
Sandra and Tina sat back while Kris grabbed a
pack of shop rags that they had thrown in the
truck. She tore it open and pressed one against
the side of her head.

The truck stopped and the squeak of the gate
created a sigh of relief from the women. The
truck stopped inside and Lisa jumped out.

“What the fuck was that I saw in the mirror,
did someone fall out?” Lisa asked holding her
chest thinking she lost someone. “I couldn’t
stop, there were rotters everywhere.”

“No, It’s all good. She is fine, just a little
mishap. We are home, that is what matters.”
Kris told her.

Karen opened her eyes and looked around
her. “I was sure that I fell.” She muttered.
“You did, Tina caught you and you hit your
head.” Sandra explained.
“Sorry.” Tina apologized.
“I’m alive. Thank you.” Karen mumbled
before closing her eyes again.
***

The training was over and I pulled the
backhoe over to the gate before I broke ground
with the stinger. I dug down leaving a slope to
drive the backhoe into and started moving
along and piling the dirt on the inside to keep
kids from falling into the hole. Gizmo and
Steven took turns riding with me to watch and
get a better hang of it. Once I hit about ten feet,
the ground turned to stone, but still had to be
leery of the dirt and clay above us in case it
collapsed.

“Can I give it a try?” Steven asked while
squatted down against the door.
I sunk the teeth into the ground and stood up.
“Get after it.”

He slowly made his way up from being
cramped against the door to the operating seat.
He started out slow and fumbled some of the
dirt back into the trench a couple of times, but
got the hang of it fairly quick. “This isn’t too
hard. I don’t know about digging for pipes and
shit, like you used to, but this isn’t bad at all.”

I laughed. “Yeah, it’s a whole different story
when having to dig and feel for pipes, but you
usually have a pretty good idea of how deep
they are when you start.”

“Did you ever break any?” He questioned.

“I broke a couple, but they were quick fixes.
Most you could just throw a clamp on. Not too
many that I had to replace pipe on.” I replied.

I had him pause for a moment so I could
climb out of the hole and run up to the cafeteria
for something to drink.

Shianne was wiping down tables when I
walked in. She looked very stressed. I walked
over to a tea pitcher and grabbed a Styrofoam
cup before pouring my drink, then walked over
and took a seat at the table that she was
cleaning.

“You alright, honey?” I asked.
“Why did mom have to go with them?” She
questioned as she took a seat next to me.
“She knows the in’s and out’s.” I answered.
“So do some of the others. She didn’t have to
go.” She stated.

“That’s very true
, but if I would have told
her no, she would have probably went anyways
and then I’d be sitting here having this
conversation with you all pissed off.” I
responded.

She dropped the rag on the table. “Could I go
out with you next time?”

I almost spit my tea on the table at the
thought, but took in consideration the
circumstances. “I don’t see why not.”

“Really!” She was shocked.

“I don’t know about taking you out on runs,
but I think something around here would be
good for all you kids. If something ever
happened to me or your mom, you need to
know how to protect yourself and more
important, how to survive in this world.” I
responded.

“I’m not a kid, dad. I’m twenty.” She made
clear.

“Well honey, that’s still a kid to me and no
matter how old you get to be, you’ll always be
one of my babies.” I stated.

“I know.” She responded with a subtle smile.

“Well, kiddo…I’ve got to get back to work,
but I am glad you made it back to us.” I stated
while getting up and heading back out.

I pushed open the chow hall doors to see the
Deuce pulling back up to the gate. I started
walking over but I couldn’t see who all was in
it and trying to hold back thoughts of the worse.